The little man gestured up at the Wall with a gnarled black walking stick.
“Makes you wonder what lies beyond.
“Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what’s on the other side?”
He cocked his head and looked at Jon with his curious mismatched eyes. “You do want to know what’s on the other side, don’t you?”
“It’s nothing special,” Jon said.
He wanted to ride with Benjen Stark on his rangings, deep into the mysteries of the haunted forest, wanted to fight Mance Rayder’s wildlings and ward the realm against the Others, but it was better not to speak of the things you wanted.
“The rangers say it’s just woods and mountains and frozen lakes, with lots of snow and ice.”
“And the grumkins and snarks,” Tyrion said. “Let us not forget them, Lord Snow, or else what’s that big thing for?”
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"Why did he attack me?" Tyrion asked with a sidelong glance at the direwolf. He wiped blood and dirt from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Maybe he thought you were a grumkin."- Tyrion(AGOT II). Here Jon compared Tyrion to grumkin. Grumkins are associated with Others and Dragons as mythical creatures who only exist in stories according to Westroes. As stumpy mentioned Jaqen is associated with grumkin. What do you think about symbolism used for grumkin?
Hi anon!
I have no sophisticated theory on any symbolism surrounding grumkins. Just vague thought soup.
@istumpysk pointed out an interesting thing in her latest Sansa reread chapter about grumkins granting wishes, which has its mirror in Arya's time at Harrenhal.
In Old Nan's stories the grumkins crafted magic things that could make a wish come true. Did I wish him dead? she wondered, before she remembered that she was too old to believe in grumkins. (ASOS, Sansa V)
Jaqen granted Arya three deaths, three magical wishes.
Jaqen still owed her one death. In Old Nan's stories about men who were given magic wishes by a grumkin, you had to be especially careful with the third wish, because it was the last. (ACOK, Arya IX)
It reminded me that Arya has another grumkin connection:
 Perhaps the grumkins had stolen her real sister. (AGOT, Sansa I)
We know that there is a later exchange of her real sister for a different girl (Jeyne Poole) while Arya is off at.. Jaqen's hometown. Braavos. Grumkin city?
Basically, the grumkins might serve as a vague mirror to the Faceless Men.
Which in turn reminded me of another use: Tyrion, who has the most mentions of grumkins of them all. At first this made me hopeful that it would support my theory that Arya will be the one to end Tyrion, since she’s essentially a little grumkin-in-training right now.Â
But it’s more geared toward Tyrion being a grumkin himself. So that neat little connection didn’t work out.Â
But as a grumkin Tyrion is placed in opposition to Jon. They first come up in an interesting confrontation with Jon. Here, Tyrion is the grumkin, mocking Jon about joining the Night’s Watch, only for his loyal wolf to flatten him into the dirt. “Perhaps he thought you were a grumkin.” That image is picked up again later when he visits Winterfell and the three resident wolves circle and attack him.
If grumkins can be expanded to all the dark mentors offering “gifts” to the Starklings and “stealing” them, which would certainly cover Arya with the Faceless Men, and Sansa with the Lannisters and Littlefinger, and Bran in the weirwodd cave, then it at least serves as some nice foreshadowing for the Starks gaining the upper hand on their respective grumkins.Â
Tyrion laughed. “You’re too smart to believe that. The Night’s Watch is a midden heap for all the misfits of the realm.
“I’ve seen you looking at Yoren and his boys. Those are your new brothers, Jon Snow, how do you like them?
“Sullen peasants, debtors, poachers, rapers, thieves, and bastards like you all wind up on the Wall, watching for grumkins and snarks and all the other monsters your wet nurse warned you about.
“The good part is there are no grumkins or snarks, so it’s scarcely dangerous work.
“The bad part is you freeze your balls off, but since you’re not allowed to breed anyway, I don’t suppose that matters.”
